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Source: http://wenzili.my.24en.com
After work, I was walking around the bank of my campus lake while pleasant breezes constantly and softly touched my face and brought me a sort of mellow smell of cooked bamboo leaves. “ Oh, today is the dragon boat festival and it is the high time to have bamboo-leaf dumpling now!” *A strong impulse suddenly arose in my mind.
Ever since the beginning of my university study, I left my hometown and had more than four-decade’s immigration life in different cities. I had such experiences as to try lots of bamboo-leaf dumplings, known as “Zong” or “Zhong Zi” in Chinese.
They all characterized by various local styles, for instance, “Jiaxing Zong Zi” made in Jiaxing, is famous in all over the
Full of delightful bacon aroma, plus soft, tough and sticky feeling in your mouth, the taste of Jiaxing Zong Zi is really unforgettable.
The famous Cantonese “Zong Zi”--known as “Zhao Qing Zong”, however, is far more complicated than the previous one. It is covered with banana leaf and classified by sweet and salt taste. The ingredients of sweet “Zhao Qing Zong” include sticky rice, rock candy, red dates, medlar pulp and with sweet bean paste inside. The ingredients of the salt one mainly include sticky rice, chicken or ham. The shape of the “Zhao Qing Zong” is standard pyramid with rectangular base.
No matter in sweet or salt Zong Zi, the sticky rice is mixed with a small amount of edible alkali. After long-time slow cooking, the rice completely melts together and becomes a jelly-like solid with dark brown color. After such process, the Zong Zi tastes rather elastic with a special flavor.
The Zong Zi in our hometown isn’t as tasty as above-mentioned brands. Therefore, it remains a local food rather than a well-known genre. However, its packing technology is far more practical and convenient than anyone else.
It is very tiresome to unpack those brand products. Some tools, such as knife or scissors is absolutely necessary for twine cutting. In this case, a great packing advantage is outstandingly presented in my hometown Zong Zi.
Our Zong Zi is tied up by a piece of ripped palm leaf, known as Zong Sha (the thread for Zong Zi tieing). The Zong Sha is much longer than previous twine. It has been firmly set around the little pyramid, since the tightness is a top quality to affect Zong Zi’s taste. Besides, with one end out, the two ends of the Zong Sha were deliberately buried beneath the bamboo leaves before. Therefore, the final tightening is nothing but to tauten the out end of the Zong Sha.
The unpacking method is also very convenient, just a simple pull to the out end in the opposite direction to the tightening without any assistant tool.
Another use of the out end is to joint the Zong Zi together. Local people always joint five or 10 Zong Zis together and bring them, as festival gift, to send friends or relatives nearby. Some children, with king’s yellow (arsenic sulphide) on their noses and cheeks, even fancy to wear a tiny Zong Zi necklace as festival decoration.
Today, I stay in this alien city alone and smell such familiar air with bamboo leaf aroma, how couldn’t I stop my mind’s soaring and nostalgia surging?
Written in Guang Dong Fo Shan city on 6，26，2007
For Chinese version:http://wenzili.my.24en.com/blog-htm-do-showone-uid-16-type-blog-itemid-8629.html
下班后，在湖边散步透凉。一阵清风拂面而来，不仅带给人以酣畅淋漓的透心凉，更捎有一缕缕甘醇浓郁的粽叶香。我心头一动，又到了粽子飘香的日子了。
自18岁外出求知，转眼间，几十年过去了。在外飘泊无定，江南塞北，闽乡粤海；吃过各色各样的粽子。
它们各具风味，各有特色。嘉兴、湖州的江南肉粽，用粽叶裹定糯米、咸肉；再用麻绳捆扎得棱角分明。吃起来又糯又绵，肉香缭绕。
广东的肇庆粽，则用芭蕉叶包裹，绳线捆扎。内边的糯米馅分甜、咸两种。甜的加糯米、冰糖、红枣、枸杞等、再包以红豆沙。咸的包有鸡肉或火腿肉。不论甜咸，内边的糯米一律拌以适量的食用碱。粽子的外形也与内地的正三棱锥不同。它的底部是长方形的，上面的尖角很矮，与大底面很不相称。让我们内地人看来很不自在。
经过长时间的文火焖煮，在食用碱的作用下，内面的糯米完全融合在一起，形成了一团红褐色的胶体，咬起来富有弹性，吃起来别有风味。
与这些驰名中外的名牌粽子不同，我们老家的粽子尽管口味上没有什么独特之处，成不了流派。但其包扎方法还是最为科学，极为考究的。
前述几种名牌粽子，在食用时，又要刀，又要剪的，很不方便。我们家乡的粽子就大大显出了它的优势来。
家乡的粽子是用撕细的棕榈叶，家乡话叫粽纱，捆扎而成。妇女们口中咬住一条条接长的粽纱，双手把洗净的粽叶朝后折叠成一个漏斗形；再朝内满满地填满糯米或绿豆拌糯米。左手将之握定，右手将粽叶下翻，把漏斗口盖定。再把口中的粽纱一端埋在漏斗口内，另一端穿过下翻的粽叶，从包成的三棱锥的顶角冒出来。再用其余的长度紧紧地套绕在粽子上。这种缠绕过程关乎粽子的口味，所以要十分上劲。最后，她们用口咬定粽纱露出的一端，双手抓住粽子，朝外猛拉。这样，一个有棱有角，被粽纱捆扎得严严实实的粽子就产生出来了。
这样的粽子，在捆扎预应力的作用下，无论焖煮多长时间，都不会变稀发软。吃起来味道特别糍实。
更绝的是这种粽子食用时无需刀剪。只要把那根预埋入的粽纱，往外一抽，整个包装就彻底解体，特别方便。
这粽纱的“外露端”还有一个用处。老乡们老用它把五个、十个粽子结在一起。提溜着，走门窜户，送亲馈友。有些小孩还把它打成结，套在颈脖上当节日饰物。孩子们脑门上、鼻子上涂满雄黄，戴着粽子项链满街跑；这也是家乡端午节的一道亮丽的风景线。
2007，6，19午于广东佛山
英文版：《Smelling Again the Bamboo Leaf Dumpling 》
http://blog.24en.com/blog-htm-do-showone-uid-16-type-blog-itemid-8740.html
如今， “独在异乡为异客”。又闻到了如此熟悉的粽子香味，回忆起以上故乡的往事，能不由人乡思如潮，百味俱生吗？